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(A)DSL
(Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) - Modems attached to twisted pair copper wiring that transmit from 1.5 Mbps to 9 Mbps downstream (to the subscriber) and from 16 kbps upstream, depending on line distance.
.net
Is a windows based platform for designing web pages. This is only supported on windows servers.
200
Is a browser code that signals that the website page was opened successfully.
301
Is a browser code that signals a directory was requested instead of a file. The server substituted an index.htm file.
302
Is a browser code that signals a temporary redirection to another page/location.
400 Bad Request
The Apache Web server allows site managers to override the standard error page that is served for specific errors by number. This error, 400 bad request, means that a request for a URL has been made but the server is not configured or capable of responding to it. This might be the case for URLs that are handed-off to a servlet engine where no default document or servlet is configured, or the HTTP request method is not implemented.
401 Unauthorized
Your IP address or the username/password you entered were not correct. Your request was denied as you have no permission to access the data.
402 Payment Required
The data is not accessible at the time. The owner of the space has not yet payed their service provider.
403
Is a browser code that means the browser understands what to do, but can't do it for some reason.
404
Is a browser code that means the requested web address cannot be found.
405 Method Not Allowed
Your IP address or the username/password you entered were not correct. Your request was denied as you have no permission to access the data. OR The server was unable to serve the data that was requested.
406 Not Acceptable
The document that has been requested either no longer exists, or has never existed on the server.
407 Proxy Authentication Required
The browser has not been authenticated on the required proxy server to access the data. This error is probably most commonly returned by content filters/parental controls.
408 Request Timeout
The browser has not been authenticated on the required proxy server to access the data. This error is probably most commonly returned by content filters/parental controls.
409 Conflict
Too many requests for the same file at one time. OR There is a conflict with an established software rule. (ie: you are trying to copy over a file with an older version, or you do not have permissions to delete a file) OR This could be caused by a DNS issue.
410 Gone
This is like a 404 error in that the document requested is not on the server, however this differs in that the server 'knows' that the file used to be there and 'believes' that the file may be back, so it returns 410 rather 404.
411
Length Required: Your Web server thinks that the HTTP data stream sent by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) should include a 'Content-Length' specification. This is typically used only for HTTP methods that result in the placement of data on the Web server, not the retrieval of data from it.
412
Precondition Failed: Your Web server thinks that the HTTP data stream sent by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) included a 'Precondition' specification which the server detected was not met.
413
Request Entity Too Large: Your Web server thinks that the HTTP data stream sent by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) was simply too large i.e. too many bytes. What constitutes 'too many bytes' depends partly upon the operation being attempted. For example a request to upload a very large file (via the HTTP PUT method) may encounter a ceiling on upload file size set by the Web server.
414 - Request- URI Too Long
Your Web server thinks that the HTTP data stream sent by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) contains a URL that is simply too large i.e. too many bytes.
415 - Unsupported Media Type
Your Web server thinks that the HTTP data stream sent by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) identifies a URL resource whose actual media type 1) does not agree with the media type specified on the request or 2) is incompatible with the current data for the resource or 3) is incompatible with the HTTP method specified on the request.Detecting exactly what is causing this problem can be difficult, because there a number of possible reasons. Often the request involves transfer of data from the client to the Web server (e.g. a file upload via the PUT method), in which case you need to confirm with your ISP which media types are acceptable for upload.
500
Is a browser code that means there was an error in displaying a webpage.
501 - Not implemented
Your Web server does not understand or does not support the HTTP method it finds in the HTTP data stream sent to it by the client (e.g. a Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot).
502 - Bad Gateway
A server (not necessarily a Web server) is acting as a gateway or proxy to fulfill the request by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) to access the requested URL. This server received an invalid response from an upstream server it accessed to fulfill the request.This usually does not mean that the upstream server is down (no response to the gateway/proxy), but rather that the upstream server and the gateway/proxy do not agree on the protocol for exchanging data. Given that Internet protocols are quite clear, it often means that one or both machines have been incorrectly or incompletely programmed.
504- Gateway Timeout
A server (not necessarily a Web server) is acting as a gateway or proxy to fulfil the request by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) to access the requested URL. This server did not receive a timely response from an upstream server it accessed to deal with your HTTP request.This usually means that the upstream server is down (no response to the gateway/proxy rather than that the upstream server and the gateway/proxy do not agree on the protocol for exchanging data.
505 - HTTP Version Not Supported
Your Web server does not support, or refuses to support, the HTTP protocol version specified by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) in the HTTP request data stream sent to the server.The HTTP protocol has various versions identified as major.minor e.g. version 0.9, 1.0 or 1.1. Your server is indicating that it is unable or unwilling to complete the request using the major version provided by the client - other than with this error message.Assuming that your request identifies a valid major.minor version number (the request is not fundamentally corrupt), then this error should mostly only occur if you are trying to use version 1.0 or 1.1, but your Web server only supports the older 0.9 version.
506
Is a browser code that signals ASP is not enabled for the domain name.
507
Is a browser code that means there is likely an error with the coding of a ASP page.
A Record
A part of the DNS system that assigns an IP address to a domain name. This record indicates to which IP address a user would be sent when requesting a particular domain name.
Access
A database program by Microsoft that requires a Windows server.
Access host
A feature in cPanel that allows you to specify which IP addresses are allowed to remotely access a MySQL database.
Accessibility
The measure of how accessible a website is. An accessible website provides features that allow the site to be used more easily by users with disabilities.
Activex
A technology developed by Microsoft that allows web applications to be created within the browser. It is only available in Internet Explorer and is known for having security issues.
Add on domain
An add on domain allows you to run a separate site complete with email capability from your main account. Add on domains will be redirected to a subdirectory of your primary domain's root directory. An add on domain will appear to visitors as a totally separate site with its own domain.
Affiliate
A website that promotes another company's goods and services in return for payment. An affiliate differs from a traditional advertiser because affiliates must deliver sales or leads in order to get paid.
Alias
The same thing as a cname.
Analog
A popular web stats analysis program. It can be downloaded from here: http://www.analog.cx/
Anonymous domain
A service offered by domain registrars which allows registration of a domain without making the personal details of the owner publicly available.
Anonymous FTP
Allows guests to upload files to the account. Files are upload to a separate directory so that the website files can not be altered by guests. Requires dedicated IP address.
Apache
Allows guests to upload files to the account. Files are upload to a separate directory so that the website files can not be altered by guests. Requires dedicated IP address.
Apache Handlers
This is how Apache knows how to handle a particular file, such as handling a CGI script. You can create your own handler, such as forcing the PHP processor to parse all HTML files. Although this is not recommended, it is possible.
Applet
A small application, such as a utility program or limited-function spreadsheet or word processor. Java programs that are run from the browser are always known as applets.
ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) Pronounced "ask-ee," it is the built-in binary code for representing characters in all computers except IBM mainframes, which use the EBCDIC coding system. ASCII was originally developed for communications and uses only seven bits per character, providing 128 combinations that include upper and lower case alphabetic letters, the numeric digits and special symbols such as the $ and %. The first 32 characters are set aside for communications and printer control
ASP
Active Server Pages. A web server technology based on Microsoft's ASP, we use Sun One ASP.
ASP Error Codes
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;294271&Product=iis60)
Attachment
A file that is attached to an email message.
Authentication
The verification of a user that is logging into a server, such as logging into the cPanel, or enabling SMTP authentication in a mail client. Authentication requires a username and password.
Auto Responders
A mail utility that automatically sends a reply to an e-mail message. Auto responders are used to send back boilerplate information on a topic without having the requester do anything more than e-mail a particular address. They are also used to send a confirmation that the message has been received.
Backbone
The major network connections that make up the internet.
Backup
A saved copy of the files for your website. It can be used to restore your site if anything happens to the original files.
Bandwidth
A measure of the amount of data that can be transferred over a network in a specific amount of time.
Banner ad
image containing an advertisement which is displayed on a website.
BBS
bulletin board system, similar to a forum.
Binary mode
method of transferring binary files with an FTP client.
blackhole
Emails addressed to non-existing accounts will automatically be deleted.
blog
Shortened form of 'weblog'. A website containing a series of dated entries, generally on a specific topic, which are written by an individual.
Body
The section of an HTML document that contains the content.
Bounce
An email message that is returned to the sender because it was undeliverable.
Broadband
High-speed internet access.
Browser
a computer program used for accessing sites or information on a network (as the World Wide Web). I.e. Used to browse websites.
BSD
Berkeley Software Distribution.
cache
a computer memory with a short access time. Normally used for storage of instructions or data.
case sensitive
The ability to distinguish between uppercase (i.e., capital) letters and lowercase (i.e., small) letters.
cell
An individual area in a table into which to place data.
Cert or certificate
An SSL certificate or Secure Socket Layer certificate is protocol used to ensure secure transactions between web servers and browsers.
CGI-BIN
A subdirectory with your public_html folder where CGI (Common Gateway Interface) scripts are placed to be executed.
chmod
The change mode command, which is only used on UNIX systems. It changes or sets the permission of a file or a directory. You can chmod an FTP program or you can also make these changes with our File Manager available in cPanel. Typical Permissions:
777 - (on our servers should be set to 755 or 644)
666 - (on our servers should be set to 755 or 644)
755
644
cloaking
Cloaking is showing different versions of your content to different visitors. It is most often used to show different content to search engines spiders than you show to your human visitors.
CMS
Content Management System. A Program or Script designed to provide easy web site creation and management.
CNAME Record
CNAME records are "canonical name" records used to point an entry to another name.
Comment
A comment is a component of a programming language that allows the programmer to tell the parser to ignore anything within the comment. The method for indicating a comment varies from language to language.
cookie
A cookie is a piece of text that a Web server can store on a user's hard disk. Cookies enable a Web site to store information on user's computers that is later retrieved and used when accessing that site again.
cpanel
A web-based administration tool that many hosting providers provide for users to configure their accounts using an graphical interface.
Cpanel theme
A Cpanel theme is a preset package containing graphical details, used to customise the look and feel of the cpanel.
cron job
A command in Unix and Unix-like operating systems, it is used to schedule commands to be executed periodically.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets is a feature of HTML developed by the W3C. With Cascading Style sheets users can create style templates that specifies how different text elements paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, fonts, etc. appear on a web page.
Custom Error Pages
A custom error page is a feature of most Web server software that allows you to replace default error messages with ones you create.
database
a collection of data.
DHTML (Dynamic HTML)
the ability to have web pages which change and interact with the user without having to communicate with the server.
Dialup
A temporary, as opposed to dedicated, data connection between machines established over a standard phone line.
directory
A listing of the files contained in a storage device.
DNS record
routes your website, mail, ftp to a specific ip address.
DNS server
maintains a database of domain names and their corresponding IP addresses.
doctype
different file extensions ex: .php, .asp, .jsp, .html, etc. that can create a website.
DOM (Document Object Model)
the specification for how objects in a Web page (text, images, headers, links, etc.) are represented. The DOM defines what attributes are associated with each object, and how the objects and attributes can be changed.
domain name
A name that identifies one or more IP addresses.
download
copying data from a main source to a peripheral device.
Dreamweaver
Dynamic Website builder/editor.
E-mail
Electronic mail
E-mail Forwarding
Process where by email is forwarded or sent to a different email account.
eCommerce
The ability to purchase products online.
EDefense
Mail filtering program provided by a third party provider (MX Logic) where email is filtered before its delivered into a specific inbox.
embed
Typically used by Netscape Navigator (Mac Os and Windows) and Internet Explorer (Mac OS) this tag is used to direct the browser to load the Macromedia Flash Player.
encrypt
Security precaution that is embedded within the coding of your site to make information being inputted inaccessible by outside sources (i.e. hackers) usually implemented by use of an SSL certificate.
exploit
Faulty piece of code that opens up security holes within a server there by making it vulnerable to attacks.
fail
Emails addressed to non-existing accounts will automatically bounced back as undeliverable.
Fantastico
Collection of PHP scripts that can be installed within cPanel, usually requires an available MySQL database.
FAQ (frequently asked questions)
Knowledge base where a collection of frequently asked questions is gathered for easy reference.
favicon
Icon that is placed before the URL within supported browsers.
Firefox
Browser developed by Mozilla as a reliable alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
firewall
A form of network protection that limits access between networks based on user defined policies.
Flash
Software designed by Macromedia to facilitate animation and graphic illustrations.
form
Typically, a script that is used in conjunction with an HTML document in order to send data to a specified email address.
forum
Collection of scripts, typically written in PHP, that allow for message posts between users (i.e. Bulletin Boards).
forwarder
A mail forwarder allows you to specify certain email address that will receive a message when sent to one email address, the message is sent to the original email address, and is then forwarded to the other email addresses specified.
Frame Works
Shared libraries that are bound to a particular application, frameworks provide a common and reusable foundation upon which to build applications.
FrontPage
A Microsoft application used to develop simple Web pages.
FrontPage extensions
The Server Extensions for the Microsoft FrontPage application these are a set of server-side applications that allow you to incorporate advanced features without having to write the complex server-side programs typically required.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. A method for sending files from one computer to another on networks and the Internet. Needed to upload/download files to and from your host.
GD
GD Library, GD is an open source code library for the dynamic creation of images GD can create PNG, JPEG and GIF images, and other formats. GD can be used to generate charts, graphics, and thumbnails.
GIF
graphic interchange file, a graphics format that can be displayed in web browsers. They display in 256 colors and have built-in compression. GIF files are also used for animated web graphics.
Gigabyte
computer memory or disk space which consists of about one thousand million bytes, one thousand megabytes. The actual value is 1,073,741,824 bytes 1,024 megabytes.
GoLive
A WYSIWYG HTML editor from Adobe
Guestbook
A guestbook is a script on a web page with a form that allows visitors of a website to sign and leave comments. It can be found in multiple web based programming languages, Perl, PHP, etc.
Hack
is a slang term, and can have multiple meanings. The popular meanings include To alter a computer program or gain unauthorized entry into a program, computer, or computer system.
Head
A tiny electromagnetic coil and metal pole used to create and read back the magnetic patterns on the disk, also known as the read/write head.
head...
an HTML tag that defines the head of the document, it contains the title tag (document title), and can contain scripts, and other page attributes.
header (email)
A portion of an e-mail message containing information pertinent to the transmission of the message such as the address of the sender, the address of the recipient, and when the message was sent.
Hits
represent the total number of requests made to the server during a given time period.
Home page
The central document on a web site. The document usually directs visitors to the information that can be found within the site. Also can be a personal page for a person, which contains information about him or her.
horde
One of two webmail programs offered by Lunarpages, the Horde mail program is the only one that allows for the creation of HTML emails.
hotlink protection
Security measure implemented for the protection of pictures, there by disabling the ability for outside sites to link pictures on your site.
htaccess
Apache directory configuration file which allows for the customization/configuration of specific directories.
HTML (hypertext markup language)
Programming language used for the creation of web sites and other documents that contain text, graphics, and hyperlinks.
http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
Protocol used to perform request and retrieve functions from a server. Commonly used as part of a website address.
hyperlink or link
A graphic or string of words that when clicked opens up a new page or jumps to a different section within a given website.
Iframe
Frame inserted within a web page which is not tied into the browser window and is instead treated as independent from the site.
ImageMagick
Software used for the creation, modification and display of bitmap images. This software can read convert and write images in different formats.
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)
A mail protocol that syncs a persons mail program with the corresponding account on a specific mail server.
include
Typically used as part of the configuration of PHP scripts, include files usually contain all the configuration instructions for PHP scripts.
Index Manager
The Index Manager enables you to control how directories on your web site are displayed. If there is no index.html in a particular directory, the contents of the directory will be displayed to the browser. This is usually undesirable and can cause security issues. You can set the four different options for any directory through the Index Manager.
index.html
When you type in the URL of a web site, but do not specify an actual file name (eg http://home.talkcity.com, the server will look for a file named "index.html" and will display it on your browser. This is the home page for the web site. You can display the same page by typing http://home.talkcity.com/index.html
Internet Explorer
is the most widely used World Wide Web browser. It comes with the Microsoft Windows operating system and can also be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site.
IP address
Internet Protocal address. Every system connected to the Internet has a unique IP address, which consists of a number in the format ABCD where each of the four sections is a decimal number from 0 to 255. Most people use Domain Names instead and the resolution between Domain Names and IP addresses is handled by the network and the Domain Name Servers. With virtual hosting, a single machine can act like multiple machines (with multiple domain names and IP addresses).
IRC
A facility that allows people -- from many different places in the world at one time -- to chat in real time. The chats, or forums, are typed remarks, and they can be either public or private. This, understandably, is a wildly popular consumer area of the internet. A sort of "ham radio" for the '90s, it offers intimacy combined with autonomy. Many celebrities are also talking to the public at pre-announced times, so IRC has commercial publicity uses, too. Business meetings can be conducted in the same way.
ISP
ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. An ISP provides access to the Internet for others via some connectivity service(s). This might be in the form of dial up services, web hosting services or the combination of both.
java
Powerful, cross-platform programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Java applets (small applications) may be incorporated into Web documents and can be executed securely by any Java-capable browser irrespective of whether it is running on a PC, an Apple Mac or a Unix workstation. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer are Java-capable. Java is being used in many ways which enhance the functionality and interactivity of Web pages.
javalog
software servicing and maintenance at customer sites by producing log reports suitable for analysis by end users, system administrators, field service engineers, and software development teams. The Logging APIs capture information such as security failures, configuration errors, performance bottlenecks, and/or bugs in the application or platform. The core package includes support for delivering plain text or XML-formatted log records to memory, output streams, consoles, files, and sockets. In addition, the logging APIs are capable of interacting with logging services that already exist on the host operating system.
javascript
JavaScript is a scripting language developed by Netscape to enable Web authors to design interactive sites. Although it shares many of the features and structures of the full Java language, it was developed independently. Javascript can interact with HTML source code, enabling Web authors to spice up their sites with dynamic content. JavaScript is endorsed by a number of software companies and is an open language that anyone can use without purchasing a license. It is supported by recent browsers from Netscape and Microsoft, though Internet Explorer supports only a subset, which Microsoft calls Jscript.
JPEG (or JPG)
A JPEG (pronounced JAY-peg) is a graphic image created by choosing from a range of compression qualities (actually, from one of a suite of compression algorithms). When you create a JPEG or convert an image from another format to a JPEG, you are asked to specify the quality of image you want. Since the highest quality results in the largest file, you can make a trade-off between image quality and file size. Formally, the JPEG file format is ISO standard 10918. The JPEG scheme includes 29 distinct coding processes although a JPEG implementer may not use them all.
JSP
Java Server Pages. A Java-based scripting language that is used to create dynamic websites.
jstl
JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library. A library of code that can be used for common web application tasks.
Keyword
The word or phrase that is used in a search engine to find websites related to a particular topic.
Kilobyte
A unit used for computer storage that is equal to 1024 bytes.
Kmeleon
A fast, Gecko-based browser.
Linux
An open source operating system that is often used for web servers.
Load balancing
Distribution of tasks between multiple servers in order to more effectively handle resource-intensive websites.
log4j
A logging package for Java that eliminates the need for inserting logging statements directly into the code.
Lynx
A text-based browser.
Mailing list
A discussion group, generally about a specific topic, where readers post and read messages via email.
Mambo
An open source content management system. The website for Mambo can be found here: http://www.mamboserver.com/
marquee
An HTML tag, which is not part of the HTML specification, that creates scrolling text.
MD5
A hashing algorithm that is used to convert a message into a unique string of digits.
Media streaming
A method of transmitting media, such as audio and video clips, across the internet without requiring the entire file to download before the file can be played. The file is played as it arrives on the user's computer.
Megabyte
A unit of computer storage equal to 1024 kilobytes or 1,048,576 bytes.
Merchant account
A service provided by a financial institution that allows a website to process credit card orders.
Message board
An application for the web that allows users to post and read messages about a particular topic.
Meta tag
An HTML tag placed in the head section of an HTML document that allows the author to give information about the document. The most common uses are specifying a description and keywords for a document.
MIME
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.
Mime types
Identifies the format of a file.
Mirror
An exact duplicate of a website. A mirror is commonly used to make file downloads more reliable by giving multiple locations from which users can download.
Mod rewrite
An Apache module that allows URLs to be rewritten according to rules specified in a .htaccess file. It is most commonly used to rewrite dynamic URLs to make them more search engine friendly.
Mod(ification)
A plugin for a script, such as Mambo or phpBB, that extends the functionality of that script.
Mozilla
The organization that produces the Mozilla suite of applications as well as Firefox (a browser) and Thunderbird (an email client).
MX entry or MX record
A DNS entry that specifies which mail server handles the mail for a domain.
MySQL
A free, open source database that is commonly used to run dynamic websites.
Name Server
A computer (server) that has both the software and the data (zone files) needed to resolve domain names to Internet Protocol (IP) numbers. Domain names must be programmed into a minimum of two name servers hosted on separate networks.
Netscape
A widely known company that developed the Netscape Navigater web browser, for viewing web pages.
ODBC
Short for Open DataBase Connectivity. ODBC is a common framework for accessing and altering the contents of databases.
Open source
refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge.
OpenPGP Keys
OpenPGP is a tool for secure online communication. It’s a non-proprietary protocol used to encrypt email using public key cryptography. OpenPGP is based on PGP. cPanel utilizes GnuPG (Gnu Privacy Guard) for its public-key cryptography.
Opera
Another popular web browser. http://www.opera.com/
Ownership
The state of being an owner. In web-hosting terms, this usually refers to the permissions set for directories and files for your website.
Packet
In networking, a packet is a unit of information transmitted as a discrete entity from one node on the network to another. More specifically, in packet-switching networks, a packet is a transmission unit of a fixed maximum length that contains a header, a set of data, and error control information.
Page Rank.
Google's patent pending technology that rates the "importance" of a given web page. Page Rank is used by Google (among other things) to determine a page's rank on Google's query results page.
Parked domain
A parked domain is a domain that points to the primary domain for your account. For example, if your primary domain is example.com, you can point example.net to the same content by parking it. Anyone who visits your site using example.net will see the same content as example.com. However, the browser's address bar will show example.net as the visitor navigates your site.
Parse
To break down a string of information such as a command or file into its constituent parts. The act of separating data into more easily understood chunks.
Password protect
a means of controlling access to web pages/sites.
PEAR
Stands for PHP Extension and Application Repository. PEAR is a framework and distribution system for reusable PHP components. More information can be found here: http://pear.php.net/manual/en/introduction.php
PERL
Short for Practical Extraction and Report Language, Perl is a programming language developed by Larry Wall, especially designed for processing text. More information can be found here: http://dict.die.net/perl/
Permissions
a set of permissions associated with every file and directory that determine who can read it, write to it, or execute it. Only the owner of the file (or the super-user) can change these permissions.
Photo gallery
refers to a collection of photos displayed on a web site.
PHP
a hypertext preprocessor is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.
Phpbb
phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable open source bulletin board package.
phpMyAdmin
A tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web.
ping
Ping is a protocol that sends a message to another computer and waits for a reply, most often used to check if another computer on a network is reachable.
png
is a portable network graphic, PNG was designed to replace the older and simpler GIF format of image files.
POP3
(Post Office Protocol 3) is a standard protocol for receiving e-mail. POP3 is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by an internet server.
port
a logical connection place. I.e. Port 80 For HTTP service and Port 21 for FTP service
PPC (pay per click)
is an ad pricing structure where in the advertiser pays the publisher according to how many times a given ad is clicked on by users.
Propagation
The process of updating a domain across the world's Internet servers. This process can take one to three days.
proxy
A proxy is a server placed between a user's machine and the Internet, or an intermediary program that acts as both a server and a client making requests on the behalf of other clients.
PYTHON
A programming language, similar to PERL, useful for processing SGML and XML documents.
Quicktime
- Developed by Apple, this software allows for the viewing of JPEG and MPEG type multimedia files.
RAID
(Redundant Array of Independent Disks) - A system of using multiple hard drives for sharing or replicating data among drives. The storage between these disk are managed by a controller and in some cases multiple controllers.
raw logs
Raw access data that is updated by the server and can be downloaded and interpreted by statistic programs.
Real Media
Software suite created by Real, Inc. most commonly used within websites for the purpose of streaming video and audio.
referrer
A referrer is the URL of the page from which a user accesses another page. For example, if you have two pages,example.com/page1.html and example.com/page2.html, and someone accesses example.com/page2.html from a link on example.com/page1.html, the referrer would be example.com/page1.html.

The referrer URL is sent by most browsers as part of a request for a page. If a user makes a direct request for a page (for example, typing example.com/page2.html into the address bar), there will be no referrer information sent.
Registrar
A registrar is a company that handles domain name registrations. They sell domains and allow their customers to manage domains they have purchased.
Resin
Servlet run within Apache used for JSP support and load balancing for increased reliability.
resolution
Term used to describe when a site appears after sending a request to a specific server. Can also be used in the context of your screen resolution (i.e. 1200 x 1600 screen resolution)
RFC
Requests for Comments. Documents that contain the protocols, standards and information that define the internet, published by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
robots.txt
A file contained within the root directory that grants access to internet spiders for specific pages.
Router
A network device that forwards packets from one network to another. Based on internal routing tables, routers read each incoming packet and decide how to forward it. To which interface on the router outgoing packets are sent may be determined by any combination of source and destination address as well as current traffic conditions (load, line costs, bad lines, etc.).
RSS
-(Really Simple Syndication) A syndication format that was developed by Netscape in 1999 and became very popular for aggregating updates to blogs and the latest news from Web sites. RSS has also stood for "Rich Site Summary" and "RDF Site Summary."
Safari
The default Web browser for the Max OS X operating system. It is noted for its fast download speed and many built-in features including the Google search bar and popup blocker
Scalability
How much a system can be expanded.
Screen reader
Software for the visually impaired that reads the contents of a computer screen, converting the text to speech. Screen readers are designed for specific operating systems and generally work with most applications.
Script
A program written in a general-purpose programming language. Such languages are typically interpreted and less comprehensive than full-blown compiled languages.
Search engine
Software that searches for data based on some criteria. Although search engines have been around for decades, they were brought to the forefront after the Web exploded onto the scene. Every Web search engine site uses a search engine that it has either developed itself or has purchased from a third party. Search engines can differ dramatically in the way they find and index the material on the Web, and the way they search the indexes from the user's query.
Security
The protection of data, networks and computing power. The protection of data (information security) is the most important. The protection of networks is important to prevent loss of server resources as well as to protect the network from being used for illegal purposes. The protection of computing power is relevant only to expensive machines such as large supercomputers.
Sendmail
An SMTP-based message transfer agent (MTA) that runs under Unix. Developed at the University of California at Berkeley by Eric Allman in 1981, sendmail stores and forwards more mail than any other MTA on the Internet. In 1998, Allman commercialized the product by forming Sendmail, Inc. (www.sendmail.com), which offers a GUI interface for modifying the configuration file instead of dealing directly with more than a thousand lines of text. Sendmail, Inc. also offers a Windows NT/2000 version that includes the POP mail server and message store. Examples of mail clients developed for sendmail in the Unix world are elm, pine, mush and mailx.
SEO (search engine optimization)
Designing a Web site so that search engines easily find the pages and index them. The goal is to have your page be in the top 10 results of a search. Optimization includes the choice of words used in the text paragraphs and the placement of those words on the page, both visible and hidden inside meta tags. Search engines use different criteria for indexing, and those criteria may change. Thus, it becomes increasingly difficult to satisfy every one equally. Yahoo! and other directory-oriented search sites manually index a Web site, which may provide the best results for the user.
Servers
A computer system in a network that is shared by multiple users. Servers come in all sizes from x86-based PCs to IBM mainframes. A server may have a keyboard, monitor and mouse directly attached, or one keyboard, monitor and mouse may connect to any number of servers via a KVM switch. Servers may be also be accessed only through a network connection as well.
Servlets
A Java application that allows developers to add dynamic content to their websites.
Session
A method for maintaining state throughout a website. It is most often used to keep users logged in so that they can access features on a site.
Shared hosting
A hosting solution where multiple user's sites are hosted on the same server.
Shockwave
A browser plugin created by Macromedia that allows playback of multimedia files.
Shopping cart
Software on a website that allows customers to save items they wish to purchase and checkout when they have finished shopping.
SMF
Simple Machines Forum.
SMS
Short Message Service. A service that permits the exchange of text messages via mobile phones.
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The primary protocol used for sending email.
SOA Update
Start of Authority update.
SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol. A protocol based on XML that is frequently used in web services.
Spam
Unsolicited bulk email. Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk messages are messages that are sent massively and contain identical content.
SpamAssassin
An open source spam filter. SpamAssassin identifies spam based on the score from multiple types of checks. Spam messages are stored in a folder (usually called spam folder).
Spider
A program that surfs webpages to get the links and pass the caught links to another program to be processed. It is usually used by search engines.
Spoofing
Email address spoofing is an activity of illegally using other.s legitimate email address to send messages.
Spyware
A program that is installed without user.s consent and running secretly on computer to collect user.s information and pass it to other parties. Spyware is installed as a result clicking on unreliable popup windows or drive-by download (automatic download without user.s consent and knowledge).
Squirrel mail
One of the webmail clients supported by Lunarpages. Squirrel Mail is written in PHP4 and it includes built-in pure PHP support for the IMAP and SMTP protocols. All pages render in pure HTML 4.0 (with no JavaScript required) for maximum compatibility across browsers.
SSI
Server Side Includes are directives that are placed in HTML pages, and evaluated on the server while the pages are being served. They let you add dynamically generated content to an existing HTML page, without having to serve the entire page via a CGI program, or other dynamic technology. SSI page can be identified by .shtml file extension.
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer is a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet.
Storage
Space in hard disk to store data such as webpages, databases and configuration files. Each user account is assigned a storage quota on the server.
Streaming
To transmit data over a network. Video and Audio streaming mean to upload, download or play Video and Audio file.
Strut
Strut is another project from The Apache Software Foundation. Struts uses a special Servlet as a switchboard to route requests from Web browsers to the appropriate ServerPage. This makes Web applications much easier to design, create, and maintain.
Sub Domain
Sub domain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. In domain name test.domain.com, .test. is the sub domain.
suphp
suphp is a tool for executing PHP scripts with the permissions of their owners. So suphp is more secure. suphp does not allow permission 666 and 777.
SVG
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is a language that delivers two-dimensional graphics in XML to the web. It provides dynamic and reusable vector graphic, text, and images.
Swish
A program that is used to create Flash animations without using Macromedia's Flash product.
Symbolic Links
Shortcuts of folders or files. Symbolic Links enable the same file to be accessed from different locations. www folder in your account is a symbolic link of public_html folder. Deleting a file in www will delete the same file in public_html.
Table
A set of data elements that has a horizontal dimension (rows) and a vertical dimension (columns) in a relational database system. A table has a specified number of columns but can have any number of rows. A table is often called a relation. Rows stored in a table are structurally equivalent to records from flat files in that they must not contain repeating fields. In webpage.s it can be as simple as a spreadsheet of rows and columns, or as complex as a set of data within a database.
Tape backup
a recording system using electronic tape to store a copy of data for preservation purposes. If data should need to be restored, then the data can be found on the tape backup. Lunarpages backup data every day on every server.
tcp
(Transmission Control Protocol) one of the main protocols in TCP/IP networks. Whereas the IP protocol deals only with packets, TCP enables two hosts to establish a connection and exchange streams of data. TCP guarantees delivery of data and also guarantees that packets will be delivered in the same order in which they were sent.
Telnet
A terminal emulation program for TCP/IP networks such as the Internet. The Telnet program runs on your computer and connects your PC to a server on the network. You can then enter commands through the Telnet program and they will be executed as if you were entering them directly on the server console. This enables you to control the server and communicate with other servers on the network. To start a Telnet session, you must log in to a server by entering a valid username and password. Telnet is a common way to remotely control Web servers.
Template
A set of pre-designed formats for text and graphics on which new pages and webs can be based. After a page or web is created using a template, you can customize the page or web.
Temporary URL
Lunarpages will create a temporary url for a customer if they request it while their own domain name is being registered and propagated. This is typically done when advanced web hosting functions such as php, jsp, asp, etc are needed immediately or for a testing purpose. The temp url is made into the form of subdomain.lunarpages.net where the customer can choose their subdomain name.
Thunderbird
A remote email client made by Mozilla.
Title
The title bar - the very top of the browser - displays the title of the page. The title of a web page is also displayed in search engine result pages; in minimized window titles at the bottom of the screen; and in lists of bookmarks or favorites.
tracert
a TCP/IP utility which allows the user to determine the route packets take to reach a particular host. Trace route works by increasing the "time to live" value of each successive packet sent. The first packet has a TTL value of one, the second two, and so on. When a packet passes through a host, the host decrements the TTL value by one and forwards the packet to the next host. When a packet with a TTL of one reaches a host, the host discards the packet and sends an ICMP time exceeded. Customers are sometimes asked to perform this function to determine if there is a break in communications between themselves and a remote server such as Lunarpages' servers.
Traffic
the amount of activity over a communication system during a given period of time; "heavy traffic overloaded the trunk lines"; "traffic on the internet is lightest during the night"
Trojan (Trojan horse)
An apparently useful and innocent program containing additional hidden code which allows the unauthorized collection, exploitation, falsification, or destruction of data. Most commonly associated with viruses.
Upload
Transferring a file or files from the user's computer to a remote computer.
Uptime
strangely enough, the opposite of downtime. It is defined as being the time that an item of equipment is in service and operating.
URI
Uniform Resource Identifier - URIs have been known by many names: WWW addresses, Universal Document Identifiers, Universal Resource Identifiers, and finally the combination of Uniform Resource Locators (URL) and Names (URN). As far as HTTP is concerned, Uniform Resource Identifiers are simply formatted strings that identify - via name, location, or any other characteristic - a resource.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator; an address that specifies the location of a file on the Internet (eg, http://www.fsu.edu/library).
Usability
Usability is the measure of how easy it is to use a website. A site would be considered usable if it meets certain criteria, which can include: having logical navigation, adherence to established conventions for the web, and providing an easy to use help section. Many other factors can come into play.
User agent
1) A component of a distributed system that presents an interface and processes requests on behalf of a user; for example, a www browser or a mail user agent.
2) The client which initiates a request. These are often browsers, editors, spiders (web-traversing robots), or other end user tools.
3) A string identifying a browser or agent accessing a web page.
4) Fields in an extended Web server log file identifying the browser and platform used by a visitor.
5) A user agent is a piece of software that interprets Web documents for a user. Examples of user agents are browsers on PCs, cell phones or PDAs, and screen readers.
6) A software application which is used to view a document to which styles have been applied. Typically, this would be a Web browser which visually displays HTML , but CSS can be applied to content for a range of media devices which have media specific style properties. See also CSS2 media stylesheet glossary.
validation/validator
An automated tool to check that coding used to create web pages is valid. It is important that coding is valid as this can impact on the accessibility of pages. Assistive technology used by disabled users such as screen readers may have problems if coding is invalid. Search engines may also have difficulty indexing pages. Most web editing packages include HTML validators or checkers, alongside spell checkers. Online validators are also available, eg W3C HTML validator and Style Sheet Validator.
Virtual host
A computer which can be forced to respond to multiple IP addresses and provide various services (typically different Web services) on each. Each of these IP addresess (which usually each have their own hostname) operate as if they were separate hosts on separate machines, although they are really all the same host.

Therefore, they are called "virtual" hosts. An example of virtual hosting is when an Internet Service Provider "hosts" World-Wide Web and other services for several customers on the same computer but gives the appearence that each of these services use separate servers.
Virus
A virus is a type of program that can replicate itself by making (possibly modified) copies of itself. The main criterion for classifying a piece of executable code as a virus is that it spreads itself by means of 'hosts'. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network or carrying it on a removable disk. Additionally, viruses can spread to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms. A worm, however, can spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host. Many personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local-area networks, facilitating their spread. Today's viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, and file sharing systems to spread, blurring the line between viruses and worms.

Viruses can infect different types of hosts. The most common targets are executable files that contain application software or parts of the operating system. Viruses have also infected the executable boot sectors of floppy disks, script files of application programs, and documents that can contain macro scripts. Additionally, viruses can infect files in other ways than simply inserting a copy of their code into the code of the host program. For example, a virus can overwrite its host with the virus code, or it can use a trick to ensure that the virus program is executed when the user wants to execute the (unmodified) host program. Viruses have existed for many different operating systems, including MS-DOS, AmigaOS, and Mac OS; today, the majority of viruses run on Microsoft Windows.A legitimate application program that can copy itself as a side-effect of its normal function (e.g. backup software) is not considered a virus. Some programs that were apparently intended as viruses cannot reliably self-replicate, because the infection routine contain bugs. For example, a buggy virus can insert copies of itself into host programs, but these copies never get executed and are thus unable to spread the virus. Self-replicating programs that have very limited spreading capabilities because of bugs should not be considered legitimate viruses.
Visits
a complete session of accesses to a certain web server conducted by one person. A visit is concluded when the customer hasn't viewed any page for a certain period of time (60 seconds in most cases).
VOIP
(Voice over Internet Protocol) The technology used to transmit voice conversations over a data network using the Internet Protocol. Such data network may be the Internet or a corporate Intranet.
VPN
(virtual private network) A private network constructed across a public network such as the Internet. A VPN can be made secure, even though it is using existing Internet connections to carry data communication. Security measures involve encrypting data before sending it across the Internet and decrypting the data at the other end. An additional level of security can be added by encrypting the originating and receiving network address.
W3C
The W3C (short for World Wide Web Consortium) is the body that defines standards for many web related languages and technologies. They oversee development of standards for languages such as HTML and CSS. Their site can be found here: http://www.w3.org/
WAI
(web accessibility initiative) Guidelines put in place to highlight and improve the difficulties experienced by many web users. The guidelines can be accessed at http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
WAMP
(Windows/Apache/MySQL/PHP) - WAMP is an acronym for the combination Microsoft Windows, Apache, MySQL and one or more of Perl, PHP and Python. It is modelled after the more well-known LAMP, referring to the all-open source/free software approach which uses Linux instead of Windows.
WAP
(Wireless Application Protocol) An open, global specification that empowers mobile users with wireless devices to easily access and interact with information and services instantly.
Web host
The server where your web site's html files, graphics, etc. reside. Lunarpages is a web hosting company. Our servers host customer's web sites and files.
Web Mail
email that can be accessed via a browser based email service.
Web services
Web services are simple, self contained applications which perform functions, from simple requests to complicated business processes. The "web services" model uses WSDL, UDDI and SOAP/XMLP. A WSDL description is retrieved from the UDDI directory. WSDL descriptions allow the software systems of one business to extend to use those of the other directly. The services are invoked over the World Wide Web using the SOAP/XMLP protocol. Each of the components are XML based. Where two agencies know about each other's web services they can link their SOAP/XMLP interfaces - provided all security concerns are managed appropriately. It is only where services are going to have unknown users that they need to be formally described by a language such as WSDL and entered into a directory such as UDDI.
Web space
An amount of data storage space used to host websites and files on the Internet, usually measured in Megabytes (MB).
Web-inf
The directory containing the web-apps classes, jars and configuration files.
web.xml
The web.xml file is used by the J2EE application server during deployment of a web module. It describes the web components used by that web module, environment variables, and security requirements. This information is stored as /WEB-INF/web.xml. For example, the default application's deployment descriptor might be stored as /usr/jrun/servers/default/delt-app/WEB-INF/web.xml. You must add a web.xml deployment descriptor to any WAR file you want to deploy as a web application. You can then add your web module to a J2EE application, which has its own deployment descriptor (application.xml) in addition to the web module's web.xml.
Webalizer
Name of web stats program offered with most web hosting plans using the Cpanel user interface.
Webapps
structured forms that send pre-formatted instant messages to users or a process on a server. They are designed to interact with databases to collect, store, organize and disseminate information, creating powerful tools for use in consistent information management. webApps provide (a) support of IE compatible languages (JavaScript, Flash and ActiveX, etc.), (b) synchronized Intranet, Extranet and Internet web applications, (c) secure unified login and presence management across all system layers, and (d) compatible with most popular database engines (SQL, Access, Sybase, etc.)
WebDAV
is the abbreviation for Web-Distributing, Authoring and Versioning. It describes a technique by which the editing of webpages can be simplified. WebDAV consists of HTTP extensions which specify a standard for the exchange of data between web authoring tools and web servers. With WebDAV internet documents can be read and created as local data.
whois
Whois is a term referring to a domain name search or look-up feature for a database - typically for Top-Level Domain name registries. Information such as name availability can be found through a query or search using a whois protocol (standard). Most Top-Level Domain registries maintain their own whois database containing domain name contact information.
Windows Media
A media format developed by Microsoft for streaming and playing back media files.
WYSIWYG
(What You See Is What You Get) A graphical interface to a process which shows how the end-result will look as it is being produced, eg a WYSIWYG HTML editor generates HTML markup but displays the document as if viewed with a Web browser.
XFORMS
XForms is an XML format for the specification of user interfaces, specifically web forms. XForms was designed to be the next generation of HTML / XHTML forms, but is generic enough that it can also be used in a standalone manner to describe any user interface, and even perform simple and common data manipulation tasks.
XHTML
The next generation of HTML and is a hybrid between HTML and XML. XML was designed to describe data. HTML was designed to display data. XHTML is much stricter than HTML. Not all browers support XML so XHTML provides an intermediary soluton and can be interpreted by XML and HTML browsers. For further information see: http://www.w3c.org/MarkUp/
XML
Extensible Markup Language, a specification developed by the W3C. XML is a pared-down version of SGML, designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations.
XSLT
(eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) A language used to transform XML documents into other documents. In Second Site, XSLT is used to transform XML documents into HTML tags. The XSLT standard is administered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Zip
To zip a file is to compress it into an archive so that it occupies less disk space.